Monday, January 19, 2015

Your Turn Challenge - Day 1


What to do When it's Your Turn is a book by Seth Godin.  It's been morphed into a writing challenge and you can click the book cover up there to find more information.

~~~oOo~~~

Day 1:  Why are you doing the Your Turn Challenge?


Why am I doing this challenge?

One of the earliest messages I can remember from my childhood is that I was not good enough.  My brother had talent in playing the piano.  My parents encouraged him, even to the point that he majored in music in college.  I don't really envy his talent or success; I'm very proud of his accomplishments.  The problem came in that I was interested in acting on stage from the time I was in grade school, if not before.  My mother and father did not have the same interest in live theatre that they did in music.  So I was encouraged to follow more academic pursuits.  I played the piano too but not as good as my brother.

I remember being in Trigonometry in high school and struggling with the course.  For one test I had studied especially hard and got 97 out of 100.  I proudly showed the paper to my father; he asked me what had happened to the other 3 points. *sound of air escaping from a balloon*

When I started college I majored in Musical Theatre.  By that time, I was so introverted that I found it difficult to audition, which as you can imagine created something of a problem.  At the end of the year, all majors had to pass an audition.  I did not.  One professor went so far to write on my review sheet that I should find something else to do, as I had no future in theatre.

For the next 10 years I believed him.  I started majoring in business, which pleased my mother to no end.  (My father had passed shortly before I graduated from high school.)  But my heart was not in it.  I fizzled out in my 2nd year in college and had odd jobs for the next 10 years or so.  On three occasions, my maternal uncle visited us in Salt Lake City.  The first time, I was working at a pizza restaurant.  He said I could do better than that.  The next time he visited, I was working in a credit card processing center for a local bank.  He and my mother got the nickel tour.  He said I could do better than that.  The third time, I had transferred to the International Department of the same bank and handled letters of credit for incoming and outgoing trade shipments.  As he had been in banking before he 'retired' and became a consultant, I thought finally he would be pleased.  As they left, he asked me to come out into the foyer with them, and told me I could do better than that.

So I went back to college because there was no moving up in that department and a lateral move was not what I was looking for.  I got a Bachelor of Science in Finance, which magna cum laude honors.  (My mother told me to be sure to ALWAYS add that bit in.)  But, I also auditioned for "The Importance of Being Earnest" and got the part of Lady Bracknell.   For the next 5-6 years I did about 30 plays, mostly acting but also various tech positions, and one directing stint.

Then came the children.  (I'll add here that I love each of my three children more than I can express, and I wouldn't trade the family I've got now for all the professional success in the world.)

Anyway...since the youngest turns 12 in a couple of weeks, they can mostly take care of themselves now.  So, for a while I've kind of been at loose ends.  We homeschool, so that takes a lot of time, of course.

But, now I feel that as the rest of the family do not require so much of my attention (as they used to), that I am at loose ends.  I feel something is missing, and that somehow I am not at this point fulfilling my 'calling', or what I am meant to do with my life.

We live in a rural setting, and there are hardly any opportunities nearby to participate in regional theatre.  Through blogging (this blog was started in 2007) and writing book reviews over the past year, I have rekindled my interest in writing.

So, now it's my turn.  Watch out world, because here I come.

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